Chapter 26

Friday, January 21st, 2022
Colorado Springs, Colorado

I looked over at Jan and then glanced back at Meghan. Both of them had their arms crossed and were giving me the disdainful schoolteacher look. They were only missing the reading glasses to look over to complete the image.

I had to laugh. They didn’t find it nearly as amusing as I did.

Meghan said, “What’s so funny Paul?”

I told them, “You are. Both of you. I wasn’t hiding anything from you so I don’t need or deserve your condemnation before I even answer your damn question. Check yourselves ladies, I’ll happily tell you what you want to know, but I can do without the dirty looks. Seriously, if you had guns, I might be dead already.”

Jan apologized, “You’re right, I’m sorry, but please tell us more about Sam. I entirely missed the fact that she was a woman when you mentioned the doctor’s name last night, and okay fine, I was a little jealous because she has such a sexy voice and it was a surprise.”

I said, “Oh, and it’s only going to get better, because she’s pretty much gorgeous too. Try to get over it though girls, because she and I are going to be working together a lot. I didn’t see a ring on her finger, but if she was married I would have no interest in her. I have no idea what her current relationship status is, and I honestly don’t care at the moment. I need her knowledge and assistance, that’s the only reason she’s on Team Carl.”

Meghan asked, “Wait, what’s Team Carl?”

I chuckled and explained my conversation with Carl about making a recruiting script using the conversation with the doctor as a template. They thought the name was amusing too, and both offered to be cheerleaders for Carl any time. Carl asked me to touch each of them, so I reached back to brush Meghan’s cheek first then quickly tapped Jan on the back of her hand. He did a strong pull on both of them as soon as contact was made, and they were each preoccupied with rubbing out an orgasm in a hurry all of a sudden. Not caring about anything else for a little while.

When they both calmed down again I said, “You might want to be a little more careful with teasing him ladies. Something like that might get really interesting at Cracker Barrel for instance.”

Meghan said, “Carl I’m sorry, and I’ll still be happy to be your cheerleader. However, that’s not something that turns me on, so please don’t ever do that to me in a more public place than this.”

I relayed, “He promises that he won’t. I must say that it was pretty hot though.”

Jan grinned and said, “You seem to be having a problem over there. I think I’ll apologize more directly and help with that. But Paul, you have to pass this one on to Carl, no enjoying it for yourself.”

I chuckled and said, “Sure thing. I promise not to have any fun at all.”

Putting words to action, she moved the armrest up out of the way and went down on me. I managed not to kill us when I came, but I can’t say I stayed completely between the lanes. We were passed by a small family in a Suburban shortly after that. The mom in the passenger seat gave Jan a thumbs up as they went by.”

Meghan worked on her cheerleader routine for Jan’s performance as we all laughed. After a bit Jan asked, “So what’s up with the two phones?”

I answered, “Well, when I met up with Brad I was more focused on keeping the personas separated. It’s gotten more complicated than I expected as I’ve gotten more comfortable with my powers. You guys know about each other now, and I’m on the verge of migrating to John, and it’s getting nuts.”

Meghan asked, “Doesn’t John most likely already have a phone?”

I said, “Good question. Jan, see if you can call John Walker Senior. He should be in the contacts.”

Jan called and put it on speaker.

“Hello?”

I said, “Hi John, It’s Brad. How’s it going?”

He said, “Really well, I’m having a room prepared here at my house for him. I have a line on a few candidates for nurses long term, but interviews will be required there. In the meantime, I have a contact for a short term temp nurse that I can get in just a few hours notice. Short term means less than a week in this case. I’ve been promised the room would be ready Monday night, so we are good any time after that.”

I said, “That’s great news. I have a next task for you. I’m going to need to start learning about John’s past and getting ready to transition to him. I’ll need a lot of information from you personally, but also I need to know about other people in his life. If you could work on an outline of key moments and people in his life, it would be helpful.”

He said, “Sure, I can do that.”

I asked, “Off the top of my head, the things I want to know from you right now are; What was his living situation? Did he have a significant other in his life? If not how long ago was the last? Also, do you think it would be possible to get his phone in the near term?”

He answered, “Junior has an apartment in town. He lives alone, but dated occasionally. Nobody he claimed to be serious about though. I think the last girl he was serious about was three years ago in college. Nothing even got close to serious locally that I know of. As far as the phone goes, yes, I have a bag of his personal effects that was given to me. I can bring it to you any time.”

I said, “Sam and I are meeting up in his room tomorrow morning at 8:00 am to get started on some testing. Care to meet us there?”

He replied, “Sounds good. I’ll see what I can get down on paper before then.”

I said, “Thanks John, I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh, if you have a preference in how Junior should look after the swap, bring along a picture or two of suggestions.”

He said goodbye and ended the call.

Jan decided that she wanted to go the one-on-one route with her mom. Meghan and I let her go in first and she met her mom in the old time country store attached to the restaurant. I put my name on the waiting list and Meghan and I went to browse too while waiting to be called. We held hands and focused on not looking like we were watching them.

We had half expected this opportunity to get the healing out of the way, so Jan excused herself to use the bathroom shortly after arriving. While her mom was in between sampling different scented candles, Carl healed her completely. She braced her hand against the counter for just a moment as it happened. After looking around for a second she went back to smelling another candle.

Lunch was good, I’ve always been a fan of their country fried steak and eggs. Meghan and I sat at a table a good way off from Jan and her mother. Carl listened in on the conversation but it was pretty limited. Both of them were choosing light topics and struggling to not offend the other. It didn’t sound like either of them wanted to rock the boat. I would periodically update Meghan with how it was going, and our own conversation suffered due to concern for Jan. It seemed pretty uncomfortable at their table.

After they finished eating, Jan walked her mom back to her car and after an awkward hug, she waved goodbye while her mom pulled out of the parking space. After her mom left, Jan met us at the truck and decided to ride in the back with Meghan. I started up the truck and headed north on I-25, back to the Springs again.

After a while, the whispered conversation in the back dwindled. A glance over my shoulder showed Jan’s head in Meghan’s lap. Meghan was lovingly brushing her fingers through Jan’s hair while Jan appeared to be taking a little nap.

As we neared the Springs, Jan sat up and we talked about plans for the weekend. I told them I was probably going to be pretty busy working with Sam on how to make John’s recovery work. I had no idea when I’d be available.

Meghan asked, “Are you planning on moving back in with us sometime soon?”

I said, “Well, we’ve all kind of avoided bringing that question up so far. I love having you girls back in my life again, I’ve missed you both terribly, but I have to tell you, I also feel a little like I’m intruding in your relationship. How do you girls feel about it?”

Jan sounded nervous as she said, “I don’t know exactly how I feel about it. It’s complicated. I want all three of us to be very close, and I want you in our bed Paul. Just, maybe not full time though.”

Meghan said, “That’s not a bad way to put it. Paul, as you know, I’m much more into Jan than I am into you, but you are a good friend and a good lover too. I welcome you in our lives, and in our bed. The tricky part is that, in my perfect world, I would want you with us about half the time.”

I said, “Girls, never be afraid of telling me what you want. To be completely honest, that’s about ideal for me too. The only thing that concerns me is that little show of jealousy I saw earlier when we were talking about Sam. First off, there has been absolutely nothing happening there to be jealous of, and I honestly don’t know if there ever will be. Secondly, there is a good chance that there will be someone else in my life occasionally. I would rather not hide it from you guys, but it doesn’t have to be in your face either. Are you two going to be okay with some version of that?”

“Before you answer that question, keep in mind that I have no idea how significant they will be. I can’t imagine getting serious about anyone who wouldn’t be okay with our relationship too. You girls are too important to me to let something like that happen. I hope we are always way more than just friends.”

Jan said, “I think that sounds fine in theory. I guess we won’t know for sure until we get to that bridge and have to actually cross it.”

Meghan said, “Speaking only for myself, I have no problem with you having other relationships, and I can’t imagine being jealous about you being with someone else. I was just giving you shit with that look I gave you when Sam was on the phone. My concern is that I just don’t know if I want this relationship to mix with them. Do you see that being an issue?”

I replied, “I imagine they would largely be completely separate, as in you would only know as much about them as you wanted to know. Like I said earlier, anyone I got serious about would have to be cool with my relationship with you guys in the first place. I certainly wasn’t planning on trying to bring anyone else into your bed with me, if that’s what you meant.”

She replied, “Well that might have been a possible ultimate version of my concern, but I was thinking more about having to deal with the awkwardness of you bringing another girlfriend around.”

I said, “I don’t see it happening very often, but to alleviate your concern, how about if we say that I will never bring any potential girlfriends around you guys without you inviting them first? That means that they were serious enough for me to talk to you guys about them in the first place, and you were curious enough to ask for more.”

Jan said, “That sounds like a good plan to me.”

Megan said, “I agree, let’s do that.”

I said, “Cool, but back to your question Meghan. I would like to keep some clothes over at your place for convenience sake, but no, I will not plan on moving in with the two of you. I’ll be working towards moving into John’s life, including his place, over the next month or two. I’ll find out a lot more about it this weekend I imagine.”

Jan said, “Well, plan on staying with us tonight please. I think an extra pair of arms around me sounds really good today. Is that okay with you babe?”